Miracle Victim
by butterfreebutterwhyyy
Summary: For lack of a better explanation (and because the author is an idiot who sucks at summaries) Audrey fights crime and struggles to deal with many mental problems. Read this or don't, I don't care. I think it's interesting. -whoever does read this, pm me or comment with summary suggestions, because I am such an idiot-
1. Chapter 1

They stare at her, observing her in every aspect through the one way glass. The way she paced the room. The way her coppery red hair swooshed in its ponytail with her every step. How, every few seconds, she would pat down her white blouse and straighten her dark cotton skirt. How her tiny fingers yank at her plain, lace, knee high socks

"Is that her?" Morgan asks with a pen protruding from the side of his mouth. His boss leans against the wall next to him, staring at the young woman. After a moment without an answer, Morgan pokes his boss with the pen. "Hotch?"

"Yeah. I know I hire anonymously, but I never thought she would be so-" Hotchner mutters.

"Hot." Reid says, cutting Hotchner off.

"Young." Hotchner corrects incredulously, a small scowl crossing his forehead.

Reid stutters "Yea, young. That's what I meant." Reid blushes and runs his hand through his hair.

"Anyway..." Morgan, his pen dripping ink onto his dark lips says, stretching the word out. "I'm going to go in and meet her."

"Morgan!" Hotchner snaps. "We're waiting for the rest of the team." Morgan chuckles.

"Maybe you guys are, but I'm sure as hell not." Morgan tells Hotchner and Reid before entering the room the young woman was standing in.

Morgan says nothing to the young woman. He just continues to stare like he did on the other side of the one way glass. From this angle, Morgan can see much more than he could on th other side, like beads of sweat rolling down the back of the woman's neck. She pulls up her thigh high white socks every few seconds. Morgan could tell from all his years as a behavior analyst for the FBI, that the pulling at her socks was her nervous tick.

The young woman observes him. He was muscular with dark skin and short hair. Every second he kept staring at her, she felt her blood boil with more intensity. Most women her age would find him hot, but he just annoyed her. At the same time he intimidated her. She rubs her converse wedges against the tile floor and pushes her glasses up her sharp nose. She shuffles the raspberry colored jacket that she held around her arms.

The young woman opens her mouth to say something, but closes it. She opens it again, just in time for the door to open.

Hotchner smiles at the young woman, trying to be warm and trying not to scare her away, like he has done to former employees in the past.

"Hello. Nice to meet you agent." Hotchner greets the young woman with a handshake.

"It's doctor, sir. I worked very hard to earn that title, so I'd appreciate it if you'd use it." The woman says.

"My apologies. I am Agent Aaron Hotchner." The young woman shakes his hand and gives him a slight curtsy. She stares at him, taking in his slicked back, jet black hair and his muscular figure hidden by a suit. "This is your new team." Hotchner tells her. "SSA Derek Morgan," He says pointing to the man from before. "SSA Elle Greenaway," Hotchner continues, gesturing to a petite young woman with long dark hair. "SSA Jason Gideon," pointing to a middle aged man with salt and pepper hair before moving on to a beautiful young blonde, whose hair fell just under her shoulders. "our communication liaison- SSA Jennifer Jareau, and-" Hotchner is cut off by a young man who had already caught the woman's eye.

"I'm Dr. Spencer Reid." He says, taking her hand.

"Nice to meet you Dr. Reid." She says as she shakes his slightly sweaty hand. His hair was light brown and longer than most men kept it. He was thin, borderline scrawny thin and he had to be at least six feet high. A white dress shirt is tucked neatly under a baggy knitted sweater. The woman found him...appealing.

"I'm Dr. Audrey Walters," The young woman tells her new teammates . "It's nice finally meeting you all." Her voice is strong, but all the people in the room can tell that her wall of fake confidence is close to breaking. Audrey tries to shake the nerves, but Morgan staring at her did not help. "What's your problem?" Audrey asks Morgan, with a bitter tone.

"How old are you?" Morgan asks smirks, seizing the opportunity.

"Derek, don't you know that it is rude to ask a woman how old she is?" Audrey questions in a teasing voice. She laughs before confessing to her age. "I'm 22, but in a few days I'll be 23." Gideon chuckled.

"And you already have a doctorate and you've been through the academy? You didn't waste any time."

"I actually have two." Audrey corrects him. "And I'm working on my third BAS degree."

"That reminds me of someone." Gideon gestures at Spencer Reid, who looks at his shoes.

"Eidetic memory." Reid says, not looking up from his shoes. A smile spreads across Audrey's face.

"Photographic memory." She tells him. Reid looks at Audrey, shocked. "Really?" He asks. Audrey nods earnestly. "IQ?" She asks.

"187." He says. Audrey curses.

"179." She says, annoyed. Hotchner cuts off Audrey. "

Okay, it was nice meeting you, but we have to get back to work." Hotchner turned to Jennifer and Elle. "Could you show her around, Elle? And Jennifer, we need the next case presentation by noon." Hotchner leaves the room, followed by Morgan, Gideon, and Spencer. Right before he steps out of the doorway, Spencer turns back to Audrey and yells

"See you at noon." before Morgan drags him away, chuckling.

"Hey Audrey," Jennifer says before leaving, just as the guys did. "Call me JJ, okay. Jennifer if you really want to." Audrey nods then turns to Elle.

"Ready Audrey?" Elle asks and Audrey nods again. "How do you feel about a crash course for the BAU?" Elle pauses a second then continues. "My name is Elle Greenaway. Please call me Elle, as long as we're in a casual setting. Agent Greenaway when we're on a case." Audrey nods, writing down everything that's said in a note pad."This is the BAU. The Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI. The people you saw in the other room. Those are your teammates. JJ-she is our communication liaison. She takes care of the press as well as chooses our cases. Hotchner, just call him Hotch. He's our boss. He may seem a little stiff, but when he unwinds he's pretty fun. Jason Gideon is another serious, stiff agent, but he's been through a lot, so cut him some slack. Penelope is our technical liaison. She may be a little odd, but she's more helpful than you could imagine. Then there's Derek Morgan. He's really nice and even pretty funny, you just have to get used to his humor." Audrey remembers the young man from earlier.

"What about Dr. Reid?" Audrey asks Elle, ignoring the pitter patter of her heart.

"Reid?" Elle asks, amused. "He's socially awkward, to say the least. He tends to recite things like he's a dictionary. Spencer can be annoying at times, but he's one of us." Elle checks her watch. "Crap. We have half an hour until the meeting. I'll show you your desk, then finish the tour after the meeting." Elle drags Audrey after her, running. Audrey takes mental notes on every exit, every door, every desk, on the way to her desk. When Elle finally stops, both of them are heaving. Elle checks her wrist again. "Up two floors and across half the building in three minutes. New record." Elle pauses to take something out of her pocket. "Crap!" She yells. "I left my phone on the other floor." Elle looks around, worried. "Reid!" She yells once she notices him. "Can you show her to her desk?" Elle asks before running off, never giving him anytime to answer.

"Dr. Reid." Audrey says, after he walks over to her. "Nice to see you again." She smiles at him.

"You don't have to call me Dr. Reid. Spencer works." He tells her.

"Everyone else calls you Reid." She had observed that earlier, but never thought anything of it until now.

"Then you can call me Reid. Or Spencer. And if you really want, you can call me Dr. Reid. I just thought it would be nice for you to have a-" He pauses, unsure of what word to use next.

"A friend. And who calls their friend Dr." Audrey smiles. "Okay, if you want me to call you Spencer, I will."

Spencer smiles, before noticing the small distance between them. He backs away abruptly.

"Okay, I'm supposed to show you your desk right?" He shows her to a plain wooden desk, that only had a small plaque with her name on it that rest on the desk. "This is it." Spencer tells her. "You're not supposed to decorate it, but Hotch will ignore that rule if it's only a few small things." Audrey thanks him and gives him a slight curtsy.

Spencer leaves her cubicle and rounds a corner. She slides into her seat and tries to look through the glass separating her desk from the others near by. She notices that the person whose desk was next to hers had stacks and stacks of documents. Audrey manages to find the plaque on the other desk, but can't make out the hears a chair roll into the desk and is shocked to find that Spencer Reid is in the desk next to her.

"Neighbor?" She asks, just to make sure. Spencer nods before checking his watch.

"We should go." Spencer told her. "I can show you the way." The two walked side by side in the hallway, both hiding their emotions. Even though they only just met, something was growing between them.

"Spencer!" Morgan yelled from the conference room. Morgan was gesturing for Audrey and Spencer to hurry up. The two run into the room.

"You're late." Hotchner scolds the two. He glares at them for a second then gives the two a small smile. "Joking. C'mon, you're right on time." The room was sparsely furnished with only a screen, a table, and a dozen chairs pulled up to the table. JJ stood up by the screen and Hotchner at the back of the room. The rest of the team was seated around the table. Spencer took a seat and motioned for Audrey to take the one next to him.

"We need to hurry." JJ warned. "Rochester. One of the cities in western New York. Robberies. A homicide now and then."

"I wouldn't call it now and then, there's an average of fifty to sixty homicides a year in Rochester," Spencer says, cutting JJ off.

"But in the last week there has been a mass murder," JJ continues, ignoring Spencer's comment. "every other day and-" Audrey cuts JJ off with an enthusiastic "Sweet!" Everyone turns to her. She turns bright red.

"When I was a little kid, I used to read book after book on mass murders. I think it's kind of cool that my first case is something I vaguely know." She says, trying to defend herself.

"Anyway," JJ says, drawing out the word just as Morgan had done earlier. "I'll give you the rest of the info on the jet. See you in two hours."

Everyone filters out of the room. "Agent Hotchner!" Audrey shouts, trying to catch up to him. "What does JJ mean by jet?" She asks once she catches up.

"I forgot you're new. Okay, first, you may call me Hotch if you wish. Hotchner is a little too long. Secondly, we're getting on a jet in two hours so we can fly to Rochester. How else would we get there?"

"I'm sorry, Hotch." Audrey says trying the name out. "Also, what do I pack, and where is the jet?" She asks. Out of nowhere Spencer speaks up.

"Clothing." He offers. In his arms are some of the documents from his desk. "And the jet is in the airport." Audrey pulls up her socks. Her nervous tick.

"And the airport is where?" She asks. "I'm sorry, I lived in California all my life. I literally moved here yesterday. I've only seen my apartment, the bus station, and here." Hotchner laughs.

"You don't even have a car?" Spencer asks, mildly concerned. Audrey shakes her head.

"I don't have enough to get one. I mean I will in a few months because this job pays a shit ton of money compared to the minimum wage paychecks I've gotten so far, but right now all my money is going towards rent."

Reid gives Audrey a devilish smile. He grabs her hand and starts to pull her out of the room and down two flights of stairs. The two walk out of the door, Audrey asking the entire time, where they were going. When they get outside, Audrey forcefully rips her hand out of Spencer's.

"Where are you trying to take me?" She asks.

"What's your address?" Spencer asks her. She gives him a confused look. "Audrey, that is my car." He says pointing to an old red convertible. "So you could tell me your address and we can go get your stuff, or you could take the bus. It's up to you."Audrey looks down.

"I freaking hate the bus." She says. He smiles, not knowing why he was so happy that he could spend a few minutes with her. He opens the passenger side seat for her. "Thanks," She whispers, embarrassed. He gets in the driver's side and starts to pull out of the parking lot. He studies her as he drives to the address she gave him. "Why are you being so nice?" Audrey asks him.

"Why are you so nervous?" He asks her.

"I asked you first." She says plainly. Spencer pauses.

"I am not being nice, necessarily. In some cultures this is most likely expected." He tells her. "I am just being friendly." She pulls up her socks, just as she did before. "Why are you so nervous?" He asks again.

"Why do you think I'm nervous?" Audrey asks, as Spencer takes another turn. Spencer chuckles.

"A tic is an involuntary movement or sound which is usually sudden, brief, and repetitive. Tics are usually associated with nerves or stress. From what I've gathered, you had a tic as a child, but tried to cover it up. You put all the energy and tried to put it into another tic that would gather less attention. Like pulling up your socks."Audrey curses.

"Damn, you got me." Spencer smiles.

"No one is able to have secrets when you're surrounded by profilers." He tells her, parking near a building. He looks up, his back to Audrey. "Is this where you live?" He asks. She nods before exiting the car. He follows, observing the three story building.

"You're coming with me?" She asks. Spencer nods.

"We can go to my place next. It won't take long for me to pack. I mean if you don't want me to go up, I won't." Audrey shakes her head.

"It's not much, but you can come up."

The two walk into the front door and up two flights of stairs. The last of the staircase was blocked off by a locked door. Audrey pulls a key out of her pocket and unlocks the door before opening it. She leads him down a hallway before opening another door.

"Welcome to my home," She says, gesturing to her cardboard box filled apartment. The walls were a robin's egg blue. Boxes were everywhere and her apartment lacked any furniture, except for the disassembled furniture in runs frantically around, trying to gather what she needed. She stops in her tracks.

"How long do I pack for?" She asks. "Pack for a week." He tells her. "And bring all your stuff for work and something to do. We usually have some extra time on the plane ride back."

She abides, shoving clothing in her bag. She curses as she goes through box after box, trying to find an article of clothing.

"I should've labeled these." She says wistfully. She stretches up trying to see what was in a box that was above her head.

"Let me," Spencer tells him, pulling it off the pile and looking inside. His cheeks burn red.

"Give me my bras!" She yells, snatching the box out of his hands.

"So. Much. Lace." Spencer says the shock clear on his face. Audrey grabs a few out of the box and shoves them in her suitcase before resealing the box and putting it back where it was. She grabs her two suitcases and her messenger bag before leaving the room.

"Get your ass over here, Spencer." She yells at Spencer, who is still standing where he was when he discovered her undergarments.

The two walk back to Spencer's car. He pops the trunk and places her bags in it. Soon the two are on the road again.

"Thank you." Audrey whispers.

"What?" Spencer asks.

"I SAID THANK YOU." She yells.

"Ow!" Spencer exclaimed, holding his ear closer to Audrey. "I meant what as in, what are you thankful for."Audrey glares at him.

"You've been so nice." She tells him. "You don't even know me and you've just…" She pauses, not knowing what to say. "It's just that I feel like I can trust you, even though we just met." She stops realizing what she did. "I mean I just got in your car. You could've abducted me."Spencer looks at her unnerved.

"Do I really look like someone who would abduct you?" He asks. She laughs.

"No, I guess you don't." Spencer keeps going along the familiar route to his home.

"I haven't really been able to look around yet." She mentioned. "Quantico is a lot nicer than I thought." He smiles at her.

"Maybe when we get back, I'll show you around." Spence offers.

"You don't have to." Audrey tells him. "You've already done more than enough." He leaves a small pause in their conversation before saying.

"I actually enjoy it."Spencer pulls into a driveway. "C'mon Audrey." He instructs her.

"This is where you live?" She asks. He nods as he starts to walk up to the front door.

"I rent the middle floor." he tells her as he continues to walk up the walkway."You coming?" He asks. She swings her body over the door and lands on her feet with a thud. Audrey runs over to him. He stares at her.

"You know there's a door, right?" He asks. She nods and starts to walk in front of him. "Do you know what doors are used for?" He asks. She nods once again, almost to the front entrance. "That had to hurt, considering you're wearing heels." Audrey lets out a soft giggle.

"They're wedges, idiot." Spencer looks at her, astonished.

"Actually, I am qualified as a genius with my IQ being-" She cuts him off.

"187, you already told me."Spencer guides her around the house and up a flight of stairs. They step into the sparsely decorated hallway. He shows her to a door which he opens.

His apartment was the opposite of Audrey's. His apartment was well lived in. Books of all different types crowd the shelves and tables. Documents crowded every other available space. The walls were painted a mossy green. Her shoes clanked against the hardwood floor.

He opened a door and walked into what had to be his walls were a light gray. There was a wall covered in bookshelves. Books on crimes of all different sorts pour out of it. His bed was made with green sheets and his dresser was on the opposite wall.

"It's so…" Audrey pauses, trying to find the right word. "I don't even know." Two suitcases sit in the corner, prepacked. He grabs them and looks around for something. Placing a few things in another smaller looks around the room. She opens a drawer, turns bright red, then slams it shut.

"Now we're even." She squeaks.

"That is my-"

"Yup" she answers before sprinting out of the room. Spencer grabs his bags and goes after her. He finds her slumped on his couch.

"We should stop looking through each other's stuff." He suggests. She nods. They sit there silent for a minute. "Silence can be an attempt to get out of an awkward situation. At the same time it can cause awkward situations, like in this case." Spencer tells her. She waits a second before speaking.

"What time is it?" She asks. Spencer checks his watch.

"Time to start heading to the airport. The airport is 14.2 miles from here and it takes approximately 15 minutes to get through customs and to our gate, which means we'll be a little early, but we should go."

Spencer get's up and Audrey follows. The two walk back into the sparsely furnished hallway and Spencer locks the door behind them. She follows him to the stairs and back to where his car is parked. While Spencer puts his bags in the trunk, Audrey jumps the door again.

"Seriously! Do you know what doors are for?!" He asks before getting in the car himself.

"Car doors bother me." She tells him with a laugh.

"You're...insane." He tells her.

"I'm not insane. I was tested." He chuckles before leaving driveway. He drives down the road.

For some reason, Audrey feels the need to take two objects out of the jacket she held in her lap. She rubs her hand around a pistol. Spencer flinches when he sees it.

"Oh god. Warn me before you pull a gun out!" Spencer yells, obviously scared. Audrey places it along with her badge back in her jacket.

"Sorry." She apologizes, before leaving another silent catches Audrey's eye. "What is that?" She asks, pointing to a pastel building.

"A bakery, I think." Spencer answers. She laughs a cackle like laugh, before she places her hands and hoists her body up on the car door.

"Be right back." She says before she jumps off the door, not waiting for the car to stop.

"Audrey!" Spencer yells, watching her feet hit the ground and her running into the pastel building.

"Audrey!" Spencer yells, once he parked the car and entered the building. "Audrey!" He yells again. Spencer hears a young woman's laugh.

"Calm yourself." Audrey says, standing right behind him with a paper bag. "Ready?" She asks, starting to walk out the door.

"YOU JUMPED OUT OF MY CAR!" He yells at her.

"You weren't going that fast. I mean what was it. 15 miles per hour?" She says, defending herself.

"20." He corrects her.

"See. Not that fast." Spencer groans.

"Get in the car." Audrey does as Spencer said with a laugh. "And use the damn door!" He yells after her.

"Fine." She says, unhappily. Spencer trudges back to the car relieved that she didn't hurt herself.

"Do you mind if I eat?" She asks once they're back on the road. Spencer shakes his head before she tears open the bag. She pulls out a brightly frosted cupcake.

"You jumped out of a car for a cupcake?" He asks her.

"I'd jump out of a plane for a cupcake." She tells him, no hint of sarcasm in her voice. She breaks it in half and offers it to him.

"A cupcake is just a pile of sugar and carbohydrates." He tells her, confused why she enjoys the miniature cake so much. Audrey draws her finger through the frosting.

"You're silly." She laughs, poking him in the nose with a frosting covered finger.

"Careful." He tells her. "You'll get frosting on me."Audrey can't help the small laugh that escapes her lips.

"What?" Spencer asks confused.

"Nothing." She retorts, hiding the fact that he has neon blue frosting on the tip of his nose. Audrey stares at the passing cars, silent. Spencer follows the bends and turns, making his way to the airport.

"Have you been on a private jet before?" he asks her. Audrey shakes her head, finishing off the cupcake.

"I've never even flown." she confesses.

"Really?" Spencer asks amused, as he pulled into the airport parking lot.

He pulls into valet parking and tosses a young man his keys, who gives him a ticket in return. Spencer and Audrey grab their bags out of the truck. As Audrey and Spencer walk into the airport, she vaguely hears the valet boy chuckle and tell his friend about a "scrawny boy" and "blue frosting".Spencer walks Audrey around the airport to the customs stand.

"FBI" Spencer tells the customs agent, holding out his badge. Audrey stands next to him, unmoving. Spencer nudges her.

"Agent Walters?" Spencer asks, waiting for her to show her badge. "Dr. Walters?" He tries again, using a name he thought she would answer to. "AUDREY!" He yells.

"Oh, yea. I am so not used to this." She says, holding out her badge. "Sorry. I've been an agent for about three hours and I've never been able to get used to doctor." She tells the customs agent.

"I didn't need to know all that." The agent tells her. She blushes before sprinting away. Spencer calls after her, trying to get her to stop.

"Audrey, do you even know where you're going?" He asks, stopping her in her tracks.

"Nope." Spencer sprints for a second, catching up to Audrey. She glares at him.

"Let me guess, you memorized every nook and cranny of this place." She scoffs.

"Eidetic memory." He told her. "I memorize what I read." he explains.

"I know, I know. Not what you see." Spencer stares at her for a minute.

"What did I do?" He asks, confused. She pauses.

"You're so composed, almost robotic. I'm-well I'm a failure, a clutz. I just failed to respond to my own name." She says, fidgeting. She pulls at her socks.

"Audrey, you're just not used to it yet. It'll get better. I mean I have been in the BAU for two years and I still can't shoot a gun with any accuracy." Spencer confesses to her.

"Really?" She asks. He laughs before grabbing his hand. "C'mon Spence, We really need to go. I'd rather not be fired on my first day of work." The two set off running towards their gate.

"Reid! Walters!" Hotch screams for their gate. "Time to go!" He yells as Spencer and Audrey dart into the plane, followed by Hotchner. Audrey follows Spencer's lead in leaving the bags by the door and walking onto a small room. Morgan, Elle, and JJ greet them.

"Spencer?" Elle asks, looking at his nose. Audrey curses quietly. "There's something on your nose." JJ tells Spencer. He wipes at his nose, his hand coming away blue.

"Audrey!" He shouts. "You got frosting on my nose? Are you kidding me?" Audrey laughs, hysterically.

"Nope!"

"What ever, Miss. Lacy Bras!" Spencer retorts.

"You're really bringing that up?" She snaps.

"Of course, Little Miss. Lacy-" Audrey cuts him off.

"Shut up Brief Boy."Everyone on the plane laughs, despite how confused they are.

"Why are you talking about undergarments?" Hotchner asks the two. Audrey pauses, bright red.

"How do we explain that?" Spencer questions. Morgan chuckles.

"Wow, encyclo-reid-ia doesn't know something."Audrey rests her head in her hand, annoyed.

"Let's drop it." she says simply. Spencer and Hotchner take a seat, while Audrey stands awkwardly in a corner, unknowing what she should do. She seems to zone out, absentmindedly pulling at her socks.

"Audrey?" Hotchner asks. "Audrey!" Hotchner yells, snapping her back. "Profile time, take a seat." Audrey rushes to a seat while apologizing again and moves to a small screen that dangles from the ceiling of the plane.

"As I said before, mass murders. Every other day for the last week. 25 people per spree and three sprees so far. All in public places. All have no similarity between the victims" JJ explains.

"Any survivors?" Elle asks.

"9 from the first, 7 from the second and one from the third." Spencer keeps his eye on Audrey, noticing that she's pulling at her socks even more often than she previously was.

"He seems very intent on only killing 25 people per spree." Audrey tells the group. "How did they die?"

"Gunshots to the chest, head, and groin areas." JJ informs them. Audrey pales, yanking at her socks and tearing it in half. Audrey curses, trying frantically to make the sock look less horrendous.

"Audrey?" JJ asks, concerned. She looks up, shakey.

"I think I know who our unsub is." Audrey takes off her shoes and starts to unroll her socks. "The Cali Valley Killer." She says, her voice cracking. "15 years ago, this killer went off the map. He killed 250 people, all in sets of 25, every other day. All murders took place in public areas and all the victims had nothing in common. If there was more than 25 people in the place he was attacking, he let them go-excluding one girl who he abducted. And to top it off, each victim was killed by a gunshot to the chest, head, and groin." She rambles.

"How do you know all that?" Gideon asks her.

"You were a little kid when that happened." She frowns, pulling her shoes back on.

"I read a lot." She says, but everyone could tell by the tone of her voice that she was lying.

"You think it could be him?" Morgan asks.

"JJ was there a signature?" She nods.

"A piece of string ties to the victim's pinky finger." Audrey and JJ say in unison.

"It's him." Audrey snarls, getting out of her seat and walking to where she set her luggage, grabbing a new pair of socks from the top pocket. She goes back to her seat before taking her shoes off and rolling the new pair of socks on. "No doubt." She continues, ignoring the weird looks she's getting from her new co-workers.

"Why are you so sure?" Morgan asks.

"I would recognize this case anywhere." She says bitterly.

"Fifteen years is a long cooling off period, especially for a mass murderer. Maybe it's a copycat." Elle offers.

"Only the police and the Cali Valley Killer knew about the knot on the finger, so it can't be." Audrey retorts.

"Maybe it's his kid." JJ suggests.

"No kid, no wife." Audrey remarks.

"Maybe it has nothing to do with a killer from 15 years ago!" Morgan glares at Audrey with red hot anger burning in his veins.

"You join the team and all of the sudden, you think you're such a big shot and can solve the crime with only a few bits of information." He shouts. Audrey pushes back a strand of hair that fell out of her ponytail.

"I swear I'm usually not like this." She murmurs. "But if I know one case, one killer-it's the Cali Valley Killer. And this," Audrey points to the dead bodies on the screen. "Is him." She stops, looking down and pulling at her socks.

"I agree with Audrey. It looks so much like the Cali Valley Killer, it can't be a coincidence. That gives us a preliminary for the police." Hotchner tells the group. "And Morgan, if you're so intent that this isn't the Cali Valley Killer and a completely different unsub, you can explore other options along with anyone else who agrees with you." Hotch continues. "So now you can enjoy your plane ride."

Audrey goes back to her bag, pulling out a thick spiral notebook and a few pencils. She sits back down-silent-and starts to write. Everyone stares at her as she scribbles on the paper with a force associated with anger. Soon the page is full and she flips it, filling another, and another, and another with large bubbly writing.

She starts to fill the notebook with amazing speed. Halfway through, she stops. She holds her pencil at a different angle and starts to draw lines across the page. An image of a man shrouded by a mask slowly starts to appear.

"The Cali Valley Killer-" Spencer trails off, looking over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Audrey asks flatly.

"Half a notebook and an extremely detailed drawing in 17 minutes. Either you did a ton of research, or you actually knew the guy." Spencer notes. She pushes forward the notebook, then pulls at her socks.

"I still have pages of information left to put in there-maybe enough to fill it-but that's what i've written so far." Spencer picks up the notebook, looks through it before handing it off to Hotch, astonished.

"So detailed." He comments. "And all of this is off the top of your head?"

"Photographic memory." She says, quietly.

"What happened to the girl he abducted?" Elle asks. For some reason this struck a nerve with Audrey.

"After six months he let her go." They all look astonished.

"A mass murderer let someone go?" Audrey nods.

"What did she say to the police?" Hotchner asks.

"He once was here, now he is gone. I can finally breathe, it's been way too long." Audrey recites.

"What is that?" Morgan asks.

"Her statement." Spencer explains. "She is known as the miracle victim. She watched as her entire family was killed, and spent six months with their killer before she was dumped on the side of the road. She spent another six months in and out of interrogation rooms. When asked any questions she would recite that."

"It was her way of out of reliving the incident." Audrey puts in. Penelope speaks up from a phone in Hotch's hand.

"That is a weird way of relieving her pain, but it worked. At least for a while. A few years later she was pulled out of an abusive foster home. After that event she recited another one of her rhymes, that's it. She ran away from another foster home at fourteen, lived on the street. By the time she was 16, her entire record was deleted. All there is, is one charge for arson."

"Arson?" Spencer asks. Penelope's laugh is gritty through the phone.

"Yea, she burned her records." Spencer seems amused at this.

"That's new." Audrey nods, pushes a few strands of hair that freed themselves from her ponytail, out of her face.

"After that," Penelope continues. "She disappeared. My sources say she tried to kill herself, but a body was never found and it has been six years, so she may still be alive."

"If she's alive, we need to find her. Audrey, when we get there you should check it out." Audrey yanks on her sock, managing not to rip it this time.

"Yes, Sir." She mutters.

"Do you have a problem, Audrey?" Hotchner asks. Morgan smirks in the corner where he sits.

"What, did you know the victim?" Morgan questioned in an almost teasing voice.

"Yea, I guess you could say that."


	2. Chapter 2

The two stare at her sleeping body. "Is she listening to screamo?" Elle asks, confused.

"No, because the lack of the screaming voices-that music is classified as heavy metal, not screamo." Elle looks at the sleeping girl, bewildered.

"How is she sleeping?" She asks.

"I have no clue."

"Who wants to wake the new girl?" Morgan asks, walking up to the two. After her revelation about the case, Audrey had curled up in a corner seat and started to read, where she would soon fall asleep. Now her co-workers sit around her, unsure what to do, other than to wake her.

"Why do we have to wake her?" Spencer asks. "The plane wouldn't land for another half hour." Morgan shoves Reid forward.

"Thank you for volunteering, Reid."

Spencer groans and takes the seat next to Audrey. He sets his hand on her shoulder, gently. She shoots up, no longer sleeping and has a knife to Spencer's throat before he could move, her earbuds ripping out of her ears in the process.

"Audrey," Spencer whispers, trying to calm her down. He gingerly takes her hand and starts to move the knife away from his throat. She drops it and the two watch it clatter to the floor without making a sound.

She clasps her hands over her mouth and starts to apologize. With tears in her eyes, reaches down to pick up the knife and then slides it in her hand. She blinks her eyes several times, trying to keep herself from crying. She holds her head in her hands.

"I am failing today. In so many ways." She says. She squeezes the knife, her knuckles turning white. Audrey curses, throwing the knife on the table. Blood bubbles up from a gash in her palm.

"Wrong side of the knife." Gideon hands her a handkerchief that she takes greatfuly. She dabs at the gash, dreading what's coming next.

"Are you mentally stable?" Morgan asks her. She holds her head in her healthy hand.

"Yes. No. I don't know." She groans. "I passed the Academy mental exam, which has to mean something. But I have a few-" She pauses. "-problems." They stare at her confused. She looks relieved, as if she was coming clean. "Anxiety and PTSD. Nothing out of the ordinary." She says simply before she wraps the handkerchief around her palm. "I'm joking." She says after a few minutes with no response. "I'm just a little...jumpy."

"Jumpy is an understatement." Gideon says as he folds the knife back up and pushes it across the table, towards Audrey. She takes it and slides it in the waistband of her skirt. JJ walks back into the room with a first aid kit and hands it to Audrey, who opens it and pulls out gauze. She takes off the handkerchief and squirts some yellow disinfectant on the gash, before wrapping it in a few layers of gauze.

"I've never been one who had the ability to trust." She says as she snaps the lid back on to the first aid kit.

"Even if you have trust issues, you held a knife to my neck becau-"

"Can we drop it?" Audrey snaps. She puts her earbuds back in and leans back into the chair.

"DON'T FALL ASLEEP AGAIN!" Morgan yells.

"I WON'T!" She yells back, obviously annoyed.

"She's...odd." Morgan tells the group. They all nod.

"She'll have to surprise us." Hotchner says in return. The following silence shows the agreement between the team.

. . .

"WAKE UP AUDREY!" Morgan screams at the seemingly asleep girl, right in her ear. She shoots up and socks him in the face.

"I WAS ALREADY AWAKE, YOU DAMN BASTARD!" Audrey screams in response. She shakes out her hand and rubs her ear. On the other side of the room JJ lets out a little chuckle before Elle mutters

"I think I like her." Hotchner clears his throat in an effort to ignore the situation at hand.

"We're here." He informs the group. "Welcome to Rochester." The group grabs their bags and shuffle out of the plane. Audrey's shoes hit the pavement with a short and suttle clack, as she walks towards the black SUVs, waiting a few yards away from the plane.

"So, what do we do-where do we go?" Audrey asks, feeling out of place.

"Police station-we can go over the things and double check the Cali Valley Killer idea." Hotchner answers. "After we look at it, we'll either give a preliminary or look into other options."Audrey nods.

"Okay, but I can assure you. I know what I'm talking about. It is the Cali Valley Killer." She says the words with such passion that it empressed them all. Conflicted views on the girl go through all their heads. The SUVs pull to a stop in front of a tall building with a marble exterior. Audrey scales the stairs with a childish giggle. She opens the door and the others have to run to catch up to her. She stops in her tracks when she sees the boards in the center of the station.

Pictures of corpses-75 of them-are spread across multiple boards with the person's name and basic information directly underneath. Her eyes get glossy, but she blinks a few times before anyone could see the tears.

"It's him." She says, walking up to the board and pointing out certain marks on the bodies. "None of this was posted on any media. No books hold it. The only place it is, is in the police and federal files." She says brushing her fingertips over the little knot of twine on the victim's pinky finger.

She pauses and the rest of the team look at the boards. Audrey pauses, waiting for some sort of cue from Hotchner. The two lock eyes for a minute before he speaks up.

"All your's."

"I need at least five more boards, a huge box of push pins, a picture of every victim from the Cali Valley Killer, and the entire Cali Valley Killer case file." Audrey instructs with authority. "Get every survivor from each case, in here and in here yesterday. We have mere hours before this man strikes again."No one moves.

"FBI." She says showing them her badge. "Get off your asses and MOVE!" She shouts. Audrey grabs her notebook and sifts through the pages.

"You think it's the Cali Valley Killer?" A cop asks.

"No" Audrey says sarcastically. "I just find that case more interesting." She tears a page from the notebook and snaps "Where are my damn push pins?"

A scared looking, scrawny cop runs up to her with a box of pushpins, which she opens almost viciously. She pins a few pages-including the drawing-on the board.

"California PD just faxed us these." Another cop says as he hands Audrey a box of freshly printed papers. "They say there's a lot more on the way."Audrey tears apart the documents, Spencer sifting through the remains.

"SOMEONE GET ME A PAIR OF SCISSORS!" She shouts. The scared officer from before scatters around trying to find a pair of scissors for the girl. Soon the documents are a pile of paper clippings. "Tell Cali PDs that we're gonna need another set of copies." She instructs the room of cops as she pins one of the clippings on the Sheriff walks up to Hotchner.

"Agent Hotchner?" He asks. "Who is that girl?" Hotchner stares at Audrey, whirling around the boards like a tornado.

"I have no clue."

Wheels turn in Audrey's head at the speed of light. She mutters incoherent words under her breath. Everything around her blurs. The documents, the pictures, the flying push pins. The only reason she stopped was when Spencer grabbed her arms and shakes her body.

"Audrey!" He shouts. He takes the scrap of the document out of her grasp and takes one of her hands in both of his. Tha'ts when she noticed the pushpin jutting out of the back of her hand.

"That's what hurt." She says, simply. She pulls it out before starting to go back to the documents. He grabs her wrists and pulls her over to a first aid kit in the corner of the room. "It's nothing, just let me go back to work." She begs him. He says nothing. He opens the first aid kit and squeezes yellow goop out of a tube before wrapping her hand in gauze. "C'mon, Spencer! I only need a band-aid!" She complains. He lets go of her hands and she scampers back to the boards.

"Seriously," Morgan mutters, after he makes his way over to Spencer. "What the hell is wrong with that girl?" Spencer chuckles.

"So many things." He tells him, examining the bloody tip of the push pin. Hotchner walks up to the men.

"There's something she's not telling us." He observes. The men continue to watch her. Audrey pauses.

The police radio chatters, telling the men at the station about an active shooting. Audrey claws at her wrist and pulls at her socks. She takes down her hair and runs her hands though it. She grabs her bag and starts to run out of the building and down the stairs. Everyone runs after her. She looks around the parking lot, trying to find something.

"Who's is this?" She asks, pointing to a motorcycle. A scrawny cop-the same one who handed her the documents earlier-raises his hand. "It's mine now." She says, grabbing the helmet off the seat and turning the keys that were already in the ignition. "Bye!" She says before speeding off.

Audrey feels something harden in her chest. Knowledge of what's to come, seems to set it. She knew that when she got there he would be gone. She knew that there would be 25 bodies-no more, no less-but there would be survivors. Maybe a screaming baby or a young child weeping over the body of his mother. Maybe a pregnant woman or an old man. It never mattered who he left behind, only that he took 25 lives.

It was sad to say, but when she got to the address she wasn't surprised to see the message spread across the front of the store's front window in crimson blood.

My "Miracle Victim":

I know you're there.

I know everything about you.

I know you've tried to change.

I know how you changed your name and changed you hair and changed where you lived.

But you always were changing.

But I always knew it was you.

But my darling, I never changed.

I still love you.

And I will never stop loving you.

My darling Audrey.

Audrey's knees collapse out from under her. She falls to the pavement. She doesn't hear the cars pull up or the ambulances or the screaming child-the only survivor. But when someone lays his hand on her shoulder, she snaps. Shooting up, taking him by the wrist, and judo flipping him. Spencer groans as his back hits the pavement. She covers her mouth and a sob catches in her throat. She falls back down on her knees. Spencer gets up off his back and leans towards Audrey. He places his hand on her shoulder and she flinches.

"Is your name Audrey Keiles?" He asks her.

"It's pronounced key-less." She corrects in a wavering voice.


	3. Chapter 3

"You're the miracle victim?" Morgan asks, sitting next to Audrey on the pavement. She says nothing, she just sits there-unmoving.

"Audrey?" Jennifer asks. She reaches down to touch her, but Audrey slaps her hand away.

"Audrey, are you the miracle victim?" Hotchner asks, no comfort in his voice.

"Keiles, Jacobs, Farlex, Cambars, Jones, Loxus, Walters." Audrey chants.

"Audrey?" JJ asks. Audrey repeats the chant in a strained voice. She seemed on the verge of a panic attack

"She needs pressure across most of her body. It will decrease the cortisol in her body and lower her blood pressure." Spencer rattles off.

"English?" Morgan asks.

"She needs a hug." Spencer says before leaning in and trying to give her a hug. She pushes him away the first time, but accepts the hug the second. She starts to sob after collapsing in his arms. "I'm going to take her to the hotel." He says, cradling her close to his chest. He stands up and guides her to the car.

"Well at least we know why she was acting so weird." Morgan says, once the car had sped off-earning a slap from JJ.

. . .

The police station is alive despite the time. The noise dies down when she enters the room. She's disheveled. Her lavender blouse half tucked into her white skirt. Her hair is pulled up half heartedly and there's a streak of makeup on her forehead. She walks up to the board and starts to work silently.

The boards were covered in crime scene pictures, pictures of the victims, and post its covered in ideas on the case. Audrey goes through, tearing the post it's off angrily and throwing them in the trash.

"No," She says reading another. "No, no, no!" She screams. She yanks at her socks, again and again. She groans before collapsing in a chair. "His name is Josiah." She whispers. "He always told me that I could call him Josiah."Spencer walks up to her and gestures for her to sit.

"Why didn't you tell us that you were Audrey Keiles?" He asks.

"Keiles, Jacobs, Farlex, Cambars, Jones, Loxus, Walters." She chants in response.

"Audrey," He says in a soothing voice, as an attempt to calm her. She starts to shake. "Audrey, Are you okay?"

"Keiles, Jacobs, Farlex, Cambars, Jones, Loxus, Walters." She chants once more. Spencer thinks for a moment, before deciding on a way to continue.

"Audrey, you are going to look at me." He instructs. "I won't ask you anymore questions. I know you won't answer any of them. I need you to know that you don't have to work this case." She pulls at her socks before she gets up.

"I know that Dr. Reid. I would like to work on this case and no one knows this man better than I do, so I plan to work on this case until we have him in custody or that bastard is dead." She says, moving back to the board. She looks over the information, scanning the photos.

"Agent Hotchner!" A portly man greets.

"Detective Ruester. Have you met my team?" Hotchner asks. The detective shakes his head. "This is Agent Jason Gideon, Agent Derek Morgan, Agent-" Hotch says, introducing the team members one by one, but Audrey didn't hear any of it until he got to her name. "-and Dr. Audrey-" She cuts him off.

"Dr. Audrey is good for now." She tells Hotchner, wanting to avoid her last name.

"I knew an Audrey once." The detective recalls. "She was a bitch. Actually she was connected to this case." The detective goes on, looking at the board. "Audrey Keiles was her name. The Miracle Victim wasn't that much of a miracle. She was just a bratty child who wouldn't tell us what happened. She could have saved so many lives, but she wouldn't open her damn mouth. But she has to be dead. I mean she slit her wrists twice while she was in our custody and that was fourteen years ago, she has to have died _years_ ago."

"Maybe she did something with herself." Audrey says, not looking away from the board. "I mean maybe she went to school and is now trying to catch guys like the one who kept her." She retorts. The detective-not understanding her tone-says.

"That's impossible. Before she disappeared she had a record a mile long. She was hospitalized nine times for suicide and arrested seventeen times for all sorts of charges."

Audrey grinds her teeth. "Hello, My name is Dr. Audrey Keiles. I would love it if you would shut the _fuck_ up. As you can see I am not dead and if I must I will show you both my Doctorates, all three of my Bachelors, as well as my FBI badge-to prove that I actually did something with my life." She growls. Detective Ruester stands, silenced by Audrey's words.

"Get him out of my sight." She instructs, before turning back to the board. She flutters her hand over two photos-a young boy and teenage girl. She pulls them off and turns them around so the blank back faces her. Spencer gives her a questioning look. "Fletcher and Clementine Keiles." She whispers. "My big brother and sister." She leans into the board, tipping her pulls at her socks. The police station is eerily quiet. The doors burst open.

"He did it again!" The young cop from the day before shouts.

"Damn it!" The sheriff shouts. Audrey storms towards the door and the young cop.

"Keys!" She demands. He hands them over without a fight.

Audrey sprints to the motorcycle, her coworker's shouts being ignored. She turns the keys in the ignition and the motorcycle roars to life. She zooms out of the parking lot, the wind in her hair. She brushes away the tears that start to fall.

Everything is a blur to her and not just because of the tears. After so many years, why was he back? Why now? Why here? She's so confused about so many things. The only thing that's clear is that she was going to catch him.

My Miracle Victim:

I see that you are back, again.

I am glad that you no longer find my love frightening.

That always drove me mad.

But you knew that.

Because you know everything.

Except for who I am.

Except for where I am.

All you have is Josiah.

But I know you, Audrey.

And I know we'll be together soon.

Because my love with will never die.

And your idiocy won't either.

See you soon, my love.

His second message, written across the window in blood, just like before. Unlike last time, she stays still, but on her feet. She hears police cars roll up behind her.

"I'll do one interrogation." She says to no one in particular. Hotchner walks up to her and places his hand on her shoulder.

"We'll go back to the station and do it." Hotchner instructs. Audrey brushes his hand away.

"I'll only do it with Reid." She looks up, guiding her back to the car. She stops him.

"Can we go to a bakery instead of the station?" She asks. She lays her hand on her stomach just as it growls. "I haven't eaten since that cupcake yesterday and I really want another." Spencer chuckles.

"Sure, why not."

"There's one down the street." The scrawny cop from earlier tells the two.

"What's your name?" She asks.

"State Trooper Jeremy Hakings." He answers, taking pride in his title.

"Thank you Jeremy." Audrey says, giving him back his keys. "And nice bike." She tells him, before walking away.

"How are you?" Spencer asks, once the crime scene is out of sight.

"How do you think I'm doing?" She retorts. She keeps walking, silent for a moment. "I changed my name so many times. I have been a blonde, a brunette, I even had purple hair for a while. I've worn colored contacts and gotten tattoos. I've done everything to hide my scars. I destroyed my records and created new ones so I could get a fresh start in the BAU. I didn't get one full day, before my facade fell apart." She mumbles. She sighs. He holds the door open for her and the two walk into the pastel building. The two go through the line, Audrey grabbing a bright red cupcake with a swirl of frosting on top.

"Get something." Audrey instructs, taking a credit card out of a pocket in her skirt.

"I got it." He says stopping her hand, after grabbing a muffin. Audrey glares at the pastry.

"Why the in _hell_ would you get a muffin?" She growls. "It's a dense cupcake without frosting! That's just plain stupid!" Spencer chuckles, handing his credit card to the cashier.

"Maybe I think cupcakes are too sweet." He tells her. Audrey gives a little giggle.

"There is no such thing as _too sweet_."

The two leave the building and continue walking down the street, away from the crime scene. She keeps quiet, too scared to talk. He lets her, knowing that if he pushed her she would lock up.

"Life story or just the part where the man who killed my family held me hostage for six months?" Audrey asks with a hollow laugh. She finishes her cupcake, dabbing the frosting off her lips.

"It might help if you start from the day you met him." He tells her.

Her hands shake as she recalls the story that she has never let leave her lips. He walks along following her without a word. She finishes, wiping her eyes as the tears started to fall.

"Did you know you're the first person to hear any of that?" She whispers, pulling at her socks.

"Thank you Audrey." He says before pulling her into a hug. She breathes in shakily.

"I stabbed the last person who tried to hug me." She mumbles into his shoulder.

"Applying pressure to a large area of the torso-like in a hug-lowers blood pressure-" Audrey cuts him off.

"And decreases the cortisol production levels in the body." She finishes.

"Do you want to go back to the station?" Spencer questions. She nods, biting at her lip.

"Can-could-would-" She breathes in heavily. "Please don't tell them anything that is irrelevant to finding him, just because it is technically part of the case. There are a few things I really don't want getting out, and you can guess which things those are."

. . .

The doors open to the station. Spencer and Audrey enter the room. JJ walks up to the two before anyone else sees them. JJ pulls at her sleeve and wipes at the corner of Audrey's mouth.

"C'mon over guys!" Morgan calls from the other side of the room. JJ gives her a slight smile before turning and walking over to the rest of the group.

"Nothing irrelevant." Spencer whispers in her ear. Audrey follows him to the group feeling hollow, but oddly comforted.

"Hey Audrey, Can we run a profile past you? We wanna know if it matches...him." Hotchner asks.

"Why are you asking me?" Audrey says bitterly. "I mean _you're_ the boss." Hotch winces at her tone. She rubs her eyes. "I'm sorry, I'm usually not like this. It's just this brings back so many bad memories." She mumbles.

"That's perfectly understandable." Jason says, squeezes her shoulder. Audrey forces a smile.

"Okay, let me hear it." She says.

"Audrey, your PhD is in Human Behavior, right?" Hotchner asks, not looking up from the case file in his hand.

"My PhD _s_ are in Human Behavior _and_ psychology. Also one of my BAS degrees is in criminology-if that will help." She tells him, happy that the focus was off her abduction, but that happiness didn't last long.

"Do you think he was a sexual sadist?" Audrey chuckles, watching Spencer wince.

"Definitely not." She ignores the questioning looks.

"How do you know that?" Morgan questions.

"Spencer, do I know?" Audrey asks, annoyed.

"Trust me guys, she knows." Spencer tells the group, trying to avoid explaining.  
"If you guys read the message you know what he wants;how we'll catch him." Audrey mumbles. "He wants me." She pulls at her sock. "He started killing every day-he's deteriorating." She takes a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart. "He always killed in sets of 25 every other day. He was OCD. He had to. But if he isn't doing that, the object of his affection is more important than himself. He wants me. There are three options. 1-I stay here, more people die tomorrow. 2-You give me back to him and I eventually kill myself or him. And 3-I die. Tonight. He'll mourn and most likely stop. I will do two or three. There is no way in hell that I will let more people die because of me." She checks her watch. "Three hours one of you meet me at the hotel with your choice. I am going to find a pool. I wonder if I still remember how to swim. See you at six." She says before walking away.

A trooper runs up behind her, just as she leaves the building.

"Trooper Hakings." She greets, forcing a smile.

"Jeremy is fine." He assures her. "Tomorrow, when I see you again-and I _will_ see you again-you can give it back. But for now-" He places the keys to his motorcycle in her hand. "Go swim, go for a ride, get your stress out. But you are staying with _us._ Not that son of a bitch. And death is not an option. It never is. Don't let that bastard win." Jeremy pulls her into a short hug.

"See you tomorrow." Audrey says.

"Yes you will."

. . .

After hours of arguing, the BAU finally went to find Audrey.

"She said she'd be in the pool." Spencer comments as Hotch goes to check her room. He pauses.

"I knew that." Hotch replies before heading in the other direction.

She was-as she said she would be-in the pool, but her condition was...odd. She laid-fully clothed, but soaked-with her bottom half in one floaty and the top in another.

"What the hell are you doing?" Morgan asks.

"Turns out I do _not_ remember how to swim. And for a second I kinda forgot that you need to wear a bathing suit." She answers, "Have you decided?" She inquires. Hotch nods.

"None of the above. Not one two or three." Spencer says before Hotch has the chance. "Bait. You'll stay with us, but you'll lure him out.

"I gave you the options." She mutters. "That was not one of them." She paddles over to the ladder and climbs out-a hilarious sight despite the serious conversation. She strains her drenched clothing. She huffs. "I'll do it. But then I'm leaving. I'm going to disappear again. Well, that is if I live." She turns to Agent Hotchner.

"I just have one condition. If it comes down to it, kill me before he can take me. I'd much rather die than go back to the hell he put me through." She walks back into the hotel, sploshing with each step.


	4. Chapter 4

The burning hot water pours down her shaking body. She sits on the floor of the shower, her knees pulled against her chest. She stumbles to her feet and turns the shower handle to the left, shutting the water off. She slides open the door, reaching for the towel she soon drapes over her body. She wipes the foggy mirror, staring at her reflection.

She brushes her fingertips over the greenish blue bruises on the right side of her rib cage with a feather-light touch, wincing when they meet. Her hand travels to the long, pale scar on her abdomen,then to the one on her neck, her chest, her shoulders, her thighs, her ankles, and finally to the massive cluster of scars on her wrists. She wipes the tears from her eyes, before turning away from the mirror and heading back into her room to get dressed.

. . .

"So what's your plan?" Audrey asks, walking into the station and over to Spencer. "I gave you my answer yesterday, you should have a plan by now." She laughs. Audrey looked better than the day before, anyone could see that. Her pink dress was cleanly pressed, her copper curls fell around the neckline. Her makeup was slightly smeared in some areas. Still-she didn't looked disheveled like she did the day before. But it was easy to tell that her smile as well as her laugh were forced. Spencer glares at Audrey.

"It's not that easy. If I mess up you die." He replies, bitter.

"It's not like I really care anymore." Audrey giggles. Derek glares at her.

"What's wrong with you?" He scoffs. She brushes him off, ignoring the stares.

"Seriously Reid, what is the plan?" Audrey groans, ditching her charade.

"I don't have one." He answers.

"Seriously? It's not your life at risk, the least you can do is come up with a freaking plan." She snaps.

"Calm down, Audrey. He's doing the best he can." Gideon defends.

"So now I'm planning my own death. How delightful." She says, her every word dripping with sarcasm.

"Our plan isn't for your death!" Aaron exclaims.

"I swear if he tries to take me, one of us better end up dead. I'd rather end up dead then back with that bastard. I said it yesterday and I'm saying it now. I can't go back with him!" She screams.

"Then why did you agree to do this?" Aaron retorts.

"Maybe I want to die. Maybe I don't want to try to kill myself for the fourteenth time." Audrey takes a shaky breath, struggling to regain her composure. Her body trembles. "JJ deals with the press right?" She asks, moving to a board and pulling off a series of photos. Elle nods, looking up from the boards. "JJ, would you mind setting up a press conference?" She inquires.

"That is my job." She says, picking up a phone and dialing a number. Audrey opens her bag, pulling out a couple twenty dollar bills.

"I need a yellow dress and a pink headband." She says, shoving the money at Spencer. He stares at her confused. "He gave me one outfit. A yellow dress with a pink headband. If I'm luring him out I have to appeal to him." She explains. "Now, shew. Go get me a dress." Spencer leaves the building, with a clueless look on his face as Audrey scurries out of the room.

. . .

She flattens out the dress and straightens her headband, staring in the mirror. JJ walks up behind her and pulls her into a hug. Audrey lets out a tiny gasp, her body turning rigid. JJ lets go quickly.

"I'm sorry, it just looked like you needed a hug." She apologizes. Audrey wipes her eyes, making JJ notice that she had been crying.

"No. It's not your fault. I just can't handle physical contact." She mutters. She snatches up her bag and leaves the room without another word.

The second she leaves the room, she's ambushed with the press. She walks over to the podium, shoving the bag that held her clothing at Spencer. She climbs the few steps to the podium. She stares emotionless into the blinking red light of the cameras that film her.

"I have a message for the Cali Valley Killer-the man who killed 250 people 15 years ago and has killed 125 people this last week. This _message_ is from his _Miracle Victim_." She spits. "I got your messages. I saw them in person. All the crime scene reminded me of was my family. I mean the family you killed." She holds a photo out towards the camera. "This was my mother. She was thirty nine when you killed her." Audrey puts down that photo and grabs a new one. "My father was forty." She drop the photo of her father and picks up two more. "My sister-Clementine-was only sixteen when you ended her life. My brother Fletcher was twelve. That is only four of the lives you've ended short and mine is another. I have caved _in,_ in a way. I knew that even if I was given the chance, I would never see you again. But here I am setting this up myself. Noon. Tomorrow. At the coffee shop across from the street where you go and watch the little girls and boys ' _play'._ I'll meet you there. Under the condition that no one else dies. Are we in an agreement? I'll see you tomorrow." She says before storming off the podium and out of the room, her team right behind her.

"He's a pedophile?" Morgan demands, angry. "Why the hell did you not tell us?" Audrey turns bright red with anger.

"Why on earth would I want to give you the details of my personal hell?" She asks, still storming towards the doors.

"Dr. Keiles, that was an important detail. You should've told us." Aaron scolds. She spins on her heel.

"You can scold me later." She snaps. She slips off her shoe and starts to run as fast as she could, heading to her hotel.

Audrey looked odd, a barefoot young girl in a bright yellow dress with tears streaming down her face, running along the sidewalk. She burst through the lobby of the hotel and sprinted towards the staircase. She scales the stairs, one flight at a time. Once she gets to her room, she fumbles with the key, trying to get it in the slot. Audrey throws open the door and slams it behind her, breathing hard. She claws at her chest, at her dress, at her neck.

"I can't breathe." Audrey chokes. Her hands rip at her dress, slowly managing to tear it off. She pulls at her hair, letting out a little scream. She sobs, her body shaking. Audrey reaches for a the knife, resting on the nightstand next to her bed. She flips it open and holds it to her wrist for a moment. She lets it clatter to the floor. Her body is rocked with another wave of sobs. She collapses on her bed, curled up in a ball.

. . .

Knuckles bang against the door of Audrey's hotel room, waking her from her sleep. She uncurls from the position she cried herself to sleep in. She walks over to the door, unlocking it.

"You have two hours until you are meeting him. Let's get you ready." JJ says, walking into Audrey's room. A bag is hanging off her arm. Audrey slumps on her bed. JJ sets down the bag, heading towards the bathroom. She turns on the shower and walks back into the room. She pulls a yellow and grey floral dress out of the bag, as well as a pair of heels, a flower clip, and a tiny box. JJ hands Audrey the box.

"Spence said you liked them." Audrey gingerly takes the paper box and opens it, pulling out a cupcake. She holds it without taking a bite. JJ pulls her into a hug. "I know this is hard on you. I just want you to know someone is here for you. I think it would be great if after all this is over, we could be friends. Audrey nods. JJ rubs under Audrey's puffy eyes. "Now let's fix these pretty little eyes of yours. The shower is already heated up and ready for you." JJ says, motioning for Audrey to get in the shower. "I'll bring in your clothes when you're done." She offers. Audrey gets shakily to her feet, wobbling her way to the bathroom. She slowly climbs into the shower.

JJ leans against the door that Audrey closed behind her. She huffs, slightly stressed. She runs her hands through her hair before getting up and going back to the bed where the dress was laid out. She flattens it, sitting down on the edge of the bed, waiting until Audrey finishes her shower. The bathroom door cracks open.

"That little bag on the dresser-Can you hand me it?" Audrey asks, one eye peeking out of the door. JJ grabs the bag and hands it to Audrey, ignoring the fading scars that intertwine along her wrist. Audrey takes the bag and closes the door. A few minutes later Audrey asks for the dress. JJ hangs it over her arm and holds it out. She looks at Audrey's wrist, confused. The scars that entangled it moments before, were gone. JJ sighs handing over the dress, convincing herself that she had just imagined it. Audrey steps out of the bathroom, the grey and yellow floral dress reaching just below her knees. Audrey perches on the bed, sliding on the yellow heels. She picks up the flower, examining it.

"I'm sorry. It seemed like you were trying to play down your age with the headband yesterday. I thought maybe the flower might do the same." JJ apologizes.

"No. It's okay. It's a good idea. It just brings back a memory." Audrey assures. She pushes back a chunk of her freshly curled hair and clips in the flower.

"Thank you JJ." Audrey says, picking up her bag right before the two leave. They walk side by side down towards the lobby. "I'd love to be your friend." Audrey answers the question that JJ asked close to an hour before. "I haven't had a friend in a long, long time." She mutters.

"Why are you wearing yellow? Yellow statistically is proven to cause uneasiness and hunger." Reid rambles as the girls enter the lobby where the rest of the team waits.

"Colors can sometimes trigger memories. I'm trying to bring back his memories of when I was young." Audrey answers. Her hands shake and she tries to cover it up by walking tall.

She sighs, trying to block out the memories from her past. She leans towards the window, watching the city go by her as the car speeds by. Her breathing speeds up as it dawns on her. He was going to be there. She was going to see her within the next half-hour. She pushed the anxiety down as the car pulls up to the meeting place.

"C'mon inside." Hotchner instructs. Spencer opens the door for Audrey, extending a hand to help her out. Her legs shake; Her teammates pretend not to notice.

A young man walks up to Audrey. He explains the wire she must wear, but it all goes over her head. Bit by her entire body starts to tremble. She pulls at her socks over and over, pulling a few threads loose. The young man attaches a small object to her collarbone before rearranging her dress so it was hidden.

"Do you want to take a walk, Audrey?" Hotchner offers in a soothing voice. She continues to tremble, not hearing him.

"Audrey, How about you and I go get a cup of coffee?" Spencer takes her hand. She rips it out of his grasp.

"I need to go." She mutters, walking away from the group as fast as she can. Her heels click against the pavement as she starts to run away, only wanting to be alone. She ducks into an alleyway, leaning against the wall.

"Audrey?" Morgan calls. He searches the area she just passed. "C'mon I just saw you pass here. It isn't safe. He could be nearby."

She sighs, knowing she must go back to her group of coworkers. She straightens, brushing the layer of grime off the back of her dress. She opens her mouth to call back to Morgan, when a calloused hand clamps over it, cutting off her words. She freezes, her heart pounding. He leans in, his beard brushing against her neck, sending shivers down her spine.

"Nice to see you again, my Miracle Victim."


	5. Chapter 5

Sleep slowly leaves her. Audrey comes to in a dark, dingy room that smells of dirt and metal. Rough ropes dig into the flesh at her wrists, ankles, and torso. They tie her to a cold metal table. A sour tasting cloth gags her mouth, keeping her from screaming out.

"Hello, dear." He says, his deep voice sending shivers down her spine. She thrashes against the ropes that bind her, screaming against the gag.

Audrey sobs, her body shaking. _This can not be happening. Not again. Not again. Not again._ He runs his hand through her hair, pulling it towards him and smelling it.

"I'm glad you went back to your natural hair color." He breathes. "And I see you still use the same shampoo." His words send shivers down her spine. "I've missed you so much. I'm so glad you are back, Audrey."

Her body collapses. She was done. Done with him, done with herself, done with life in general. She gags as he presses his lips to her forehead. He runs his hands through her hair.

"Please let me die." She prays against the gag. "Please, please, just let me die. If there is any god, any god at all, just let me die."

She squeezes her eyes shut, waiting for it to be over, praying that it would end soon.

. . .

"Where did she go?" Spencer asks. Two hours, she has been missing. Two hours without a sign. "There is no way she just ran off."

"Then where the hell is she." Morgan retorts, anger in his voice. She had run off, causing him more work. "She warned us that this wasn't an option. That idiot just ran off to get out of this."

"We expected her to sit down and half coffee with the man who _abducted_ her. And what do we know, maybe he's done worse." Spencer reasons.

"If I were in her place, I'd do it." Morgan snarls. "She just backed out of a chance to save a minimum of twenty five lives with one goddamn coffee. She agreed to do that and then she ran off."

Elle glares at them from her chair in the other corner of the police station. JJ glances up, too exhausted to deal with them.

"Will you guys shut up?" Elle mutters, just loud enough for them to hear. "Sit down and read a book or something. We don't have much to do until Audrey shows up or that bastard kills again."

Morgan huffs, slumping into a grabs a copy of the case file before sectioning off himself in an interrogation room to escape the commotion of the police station. Elle turns the page to a book, unamused by the disappearing act of her new to Jennifer, her phone goes off. She picks it up, answering it.

"JJ? Can you get the team together?" Hotch's voice is worried. "I found something."

"One second, Hotch." JJ turns to Elle, mouthing the word _Hotch;_ Elle nods.

She moves towards Morgan, whispering something in his ear before gesturing to the room where Spencer is. He walks towards the interrogation room, grabbing one of the files from the pile laid out in front of the bulletin boards.

"Go ahead, Hotch." JJ instructs, once they had all gathered in the room and she pressed speaker phone.

"Audrey didn't just run away. We found signs of a struggle in a nearby alley." Hotch sighs. "We shouldn't have pushed her to do this."

"So you think he got her?" Morgan inquires.

"Yes." Hotch answers. "Who else would've wanted to take her. She's a federal agent." Elle sighs.

"Was there any blood?" She questions.

"Only a bit, but her glasses were there too. He probably struck her from her behind before she could notice he's there. We need to find her. There's no telling what's going on right now. Spencer?"

"I already am making a list of possible places he could be keeping her in the area." Spencer informs Hotch, not looking away from the pad of paper and map in front of him.

"JJ, call Garcia and tell her to look for a Josiah living in the area. We might not have much to narrow it down with, but we'll take what she can give us." Hotch instructs. "I'm going to look around nearby, see if there are any security cameras that might have caught it, but it doesn't seem likely." Hotch sighs and his breath crackles against the phone. "Let's find her and catch this son-of-a-bitch."

. . .

Audrey lies completely still, unmoving despite her situation. If you couldn't see the occasional shaky rise and fall of her chest, you'd think she's drips from the wounds she had acquired from fighting her restrains. She stares blindly at the ceiling.

 _He's gone for the moment. That's all that matters. It's the best that it gets around here._ She lays there. She's exhausted, but sleep isn't an option in this hell hole. The continuous drip-drip-drop of her blood falling from her wrist to the ground could drive anyone insane. Audrey tries to block it out, but focusing on the splashing of the blood was easier to deal with than the pain.

"Good morning, dear." He exclaims, pushing in the door. "Are you ready to keep quiet?" She nods, her head barely moving. "Okay, I'll take off the gag now."

"It's morning now?" Audrey croaks, once he unties the gag. He smiles down at her; she avoids his eyes.

"Yes, dear. It's almost noon." He smirks, tilting her chin, forcing her to look at his face. She clenches her eyes shut. "Are you going to be good today.

Audrey says nothing, she tries to look away and cower from his rough grasp.

"Last chance," He growls. "Will you be good?"

Audrey leans forward and spits in his face. Josiah shouts out in disgust and slaps her hard across the face. Her head slams backwards into the metal table. She struggles against the ropes that bind her as the dim, flickering light catches the murderous light in his eye.

"You little bitch. It looks like I'm going to have to train you again." He snarls

He pulls open a drawer in a file cabinet with an excess of force. He pulls a sharp, steel kitchen knife. He slams the door and moves to hover over Audrey. He smirks maliciously. He places the tip of the knife on her collarbone and Audrey flinches at it's cold touch.

"Should I do it here?" He inquires, a evil glint in his eyes. He moves the knife to her cheek, arm, legs and stomach in their own turn, each time asking "Or here?". Her heart hammers every time the freezing metal touches her skin. "No. I have the _best_ idea. How about here?" He hovers the knife above her lower torso where her uterus is. "Would this make the pain you felt go away?"

Audrey screams, trying to stop him before he could "train" her. He slaps his hand over her mouth, muffling her noises of despair and panic. He presses the knife into the flesh above her uterus and drags it along. Crimson liquid flows from the lines he creates. Audrey sobs. Not from the pain-for she had blades break her flesh countless times-but from the panic and trauma flooding back.

"Please just let me die."

She starts to slam her head back and forth, praying that one good hit would do it. She slams it into the metal time and time again. She smacks her head against the table with a sickening crack and the world in front of her begins to fade to black.

"Please, please just let me die."

. . .

 _Was that all a dream-a terrible nightmare?_ Audrey questions, nearing prayer. Her clothes are wet, with what she's not entirely sure. She feels dirty as if she was dragged through the mud. Every muscle aches and parts of her body sting. Her eyes flicker open, tears already forming. She examens the room, unsure of how long she had been there.

"God damn it. We need to go." Josiah huffs, throwing open the door. "They're close on my trail." He turns to Audrey. She shouts in terror as she notices the fire behind his glare. "It's all your fault. If you just went peacefully we wouldn't have been caught by now.

Josiah pulls a pocket knife out and flicks it open. Audrey sobs are he nears with the blood encrusted blade. He presses it into her neck and begins to pull it across.

"They're too close for both of us to get away." He snarls. "And if I can't have you, no one can." He pulls a gun out of his jacket pocket. "After I finish you off, I'll be next."

Audrey sighs in relief as the blade breaks the membrane of her throat. A bitter-sweet smile spreads across her face. _I'll finally get to die._ She thinks. _I'll get to be with them. All of them Mom, Dad, Clementine, Fletcher, even Oliver._ Blood gurgles from the ever growing wound in her throat. She doesn't cry out or struggle. She melts at the touch of the knife.

A gun goes off out of nowhere and Josiah falls to the ground, halfway done with slitting his last victim's throat. Audrey looks in the direction of the gunshot, the life already starting to drain out of her.

"Medics _now_!" Spencer squeaks into his com, panicking. "Audrey, stay with me." His words fade as her blood loss increases. He attempts to stop the blood by putting pressure on the wound, but stop when he notices he was cutting of her oxygen.

"Let me-" Audrey croaks, gasping for air through her half-slit throat. "Let me die, Spencer." She uses the last of her strength to lay her hand on his. "Please-I want to go."

Her hand goes limp in his. He calls her name, begging her to live. Medics rush in the room, grim looks on their faces.

"C'mon, Spence." JJ says, trying to soothe him and she guides him from the room.


End file.
